A Winter's Ball
by Lottie626
Summary: Rose Weasley has been crushing on Scorpius Malfoy for two years. Now, in her sixth year, the Triwizard Tournament has come back to Hogwarts and there's one thing on every girl's mind: The Yule Ball. With her best friends Molly Weasley and Penelope Longbottom at her side, what could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

"You're honestly telling me you wouldn't grab that boy in a heartbeat and make out with him in that broom cupboard?" Molly Weasley II said, pointing to a nearby broom cupboard as she, her cousin Rose Weasley and their best friend Penelope Longbottom walked down the walkway to the side of the courtyard in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Their Gryffindor cloaks trailed behind them loosely and Rose wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and adjusted her gloves, rolling her eyes at Molly.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you." Penelope said with a shrug as they walked out into the heavy snow. "I'm not saying he's not cute, I'm just saying he's not really my type."

Molly snorted. "Funny, tall and athletic… how is that not your type? That's everyone's type! Not to mention he's a freaking Triwizard champion." She said. "Penny, I literally can't think of one fault that Shaun McDonald has and he asked **you** to the Yule Ball and you said no."

"I didn't say no, I said I'd think about it." Penelope snapped back and folded her arms abruptly in front of her chest. "He's just a bit too… much. Going to the Yule Ball with one of the Triwizard Champions is a lot to deal with. Everyone watches you dance and I don't even know him that well, plus I thought we all agreed we'd try and go with some of the boys from Ilvermorny."

Rose laughed a little and Molly slapped Penelope playfully in the arm, a little too hard. "That was before Shaun McDonald asked you to the Yule Ball." Rose said with a small smile, finally speaking up.

"Exactly. Rose and I can try and go with some exotic foreigners and you can go with Shaun. Nothing will come from a date with a couple of American boys, but you might actually be able to get a boyfriend out of all this, and Shaun of all people." Molly explained while she exaggeratedly fanned her hand in front of her face, swooning and speaking a little too fast to be able to keep up. It was a bad habit of hers.

"American isn't really exotic." Rose joked. "The boys from Castelobruxo are though. Did you know that Castelobruxo is located in the middle of a Brazilian rainforest? Imagine going to school in a rainforest!" She said a little excitedly and Penelope and Molly shot her a confused look. Rose stared down at her feet awkwardly as they continued walking through the snow and down toward the greenhouses for their sixth year Herbology lesson with Penelope's father Neville and the Slytherin sixth years.

"Did you seriously go and research the other schools, Rose?" Molly said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I was curious, that's all." She said, fiddling with her thumbs.

"Only you would give yourself voluntary homework."

The three of them continued down to the greenhouses, attempting to protect themselves from the snow; which was no use given how hard and fast it was falling down. Rose reached back and tied her long and messy ginger hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes. It felt tangled and slightly damp from the snowfall. The girls walked into Greenhouse 2, where a few Slytherin girls were already sat around the long table, with Neville at the top of the table, piling textbooks and sorting out gardening gloves.

"Hi Neville." Rose said with a smile as she placed her homework on the desk beside him in a tray labelled 'homework.' Molly followed along and placed hers down and Penelope sat down beside her dad and started chatting.

Molly pushed her hair out of her face as she sat down on the bench. Her hair fell delicately in loose brown curls, framing around her face and snow fell from her hair onto her shoulders, which she brushed away. Of the three, Molly was the most attractive. She had a natural beauty about her that Rose was jealous of and wished she could have too – Penelope wasn't bad looking either – she had straight blonde hair that reached down her entire back and spent up to two hours every morning making the perfect natural make up look, which you wouldn't think she'd spent hours doing. But Rose's hair was tangled in her ponytail, with wild strands poking out from every direction. Her face was bright red from the cold, most prominently her nose, and her freckles were dotted across her cheeks along with very slowly melting pieces of snow, which covered her robes and clothes seemingly more than the other girls, creating damp spots on her shirt, jumper and Gryffindor-red tie.

"I can't believe she rejected Shaun McDonald." Molly said, shaking her head. Rose sat down beside her at the bench and they both glanced over at Penelope, who was still chatting with her dad.

"She didn't reject him." Rose clarified. "She just didn't say yes. I think it's fair really, it's intimidating and scary enough going to the ball with a normal date, let alone one of the Triwizard champions." She said with a shrug as she glanced up to the Slytherin girls that were on the opposite side of the bench, closer to the back of the greenhouse.

"It's not like the Ilvermorny champion asked her or something, it's not that intimidating."

Rose was still looking at the Slytherin girls who were laughing and looking in her direction. "For starters, the Ilvermorny champion is a girl, and for another thing, Penelope has never been as confident as you are, she probably just needs a bit of a push." She said.

"Oi Weasley!" Violet Parkinson said from the group of Slytherin girls. She and Rose had never seen eye-to-eye, ever since Violet had made Rose eat slugs in third year and she'd spent the entire day vomiting the slimy creatures into a bucket. Her father had told her that had happened to him in sorts in his second year, it didn't make her feel better.

Rose and Molly both looked up at Violet. "Nice hair accessory. Where'd you get it?" Violet and her friends snickered and Molly and Rose looked at one another. Molly reached over and pulled a large, crisp brown leaf out of Rose's hair and crumpled it up, tossing it to the floor.

Molly stuck her middle finger up at the girls who were laughing and Rose's pink cheeks got a shade darker. "Why didn't you tell me that was there?" Rose mumbled, trying to flatten her wild hair, attempting to push some strands back toward her ponytail.

"Sorry, I didn't notice it." Molly said, just as Penelope came to sit down beside them. Sixth year Gryffindor and Slytherin students spent the next five minutes piling into the greenhouse. The last of which was a group of Slytherin boys, all laughing and levitating about three snowballs each, which they aimed at all of the other students who were sitting down.

Penelope narrowly avoided getting hit in the face when she moved quickly out of the way. Molly wasn't even aimed at – everyone knew not to mess with Molly; Rose on the other hand was pelted with four snowballs, which splattered even more snow across her face, clothes and hair.

"That's enough boys." Neville said as he grabbed a plant pot with a Venomous Tentacula sprout which was moving eerily from side to side, placing it at the top of the workbench.

Rose watched her cousin Albus, who had been among the group of Slytherin boys, walk over to Violet and kiss her hard on the lips. "Mr Potter, kiss your girlfriend on your own time." Neville said, waving his wand slowly around the Venomous Tetacula to slow down it's movements and calm it. That was another reason she didn't like Violet – she'd changed Albus. He used to be hard-working and kind (not that he wasn't still), but when he was around his friends he was different. He was louder, more confident and frankly more obnoxious – but that had started happening ever since he was sorted into Slytherin and became friends with Violet and her best friend Scorpius Malfoy, but even more so when he started dating Violet in fourth year.

Scorpius walked behind Albus with a confident swagger that would look uncomfortable and fake on anyone else, talking to Rose's other Slytherin cousin Louis, who played with Scorpius on their Quidditch team. The blonde boy always seemed like he had no care in the world; his right hand was always in his pocket as he walked and more often than not you'd see him twirl his wand in his left hand like it was a drumstick. His tie was consistently too loose and the top of his shirt was always unbuttoned enough to expose a little bit of his collarbone.

Louis, Scorpius and Albus all sat down directly opposite Penelope, Rose and Molly. Rose wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and subtly rubbed her hands together under the workbench as more snow melted into her clothes. Some ice cold water dripped through her collar and down her back, causing her to shiver a little. She looked up and Scorpius was looking over at her, stifling a laugh. She glared at him and he looked away to Neville, who was explaining with pure passion about the Venomous Tentacula which moved in the plant pot in front of him.

Now, Rose couldn't help it: she had a thing for Scorpius Malfoy – most girls her age did. He was attractive, rugged, incredibly smart and not that bad of a guy. They'd had a few spats here and there, and the constant competition of who was going to be the best in the class had been there from day one of first year between the two of them – that's why Rose and Scorpius had, unintentionally, chosen all the same NEWT subjects, to keep the competition going. But somewhere between fourth and fifth year, Rose had gone from tolerating him and his know-it-all quirks to finding him endearing. Who could blame her? He was hot. She, without meaning to, spent the whole first half of the class fixed on him. She admired his shining silver eyes, how the small part of his collarbone that was exposed led her eye-line up to his Adam's apple, causing her to then admire the perfect pointedness of his jaw. That's why Rose's favourite class is Herbology, although she'd never admit that to herself or anyone else.

By the time Neville had finished talking Rose had found herself shaking away thoughts of dancing with a suited up Scorpius at the Yule Ball. She decided he'd look good in a suit. She saw Molly snap her fingers in front of Rose's face, causing Rose to look at her. "Earth to Rose!" She said, rolling her eyes.

"What?" Rose said, like she hadn't been completely spaced out fantasising over running her hands through Scorpius's blonde Malfoy locks.

"Dad's sent everyone to get the supplies to work on the plants." Penelope added. Rose was always the one to gather their supplies from around the greenhouse – mainly because Penelope and Molly had no idea what they were doing. Rose stood up and walked over to the side of the greenhouse where a bunch of students were grouped together waiting to get supplies.

She still had her scarf wrapped tightly around her neck and her cheeks and nose were still a bright shade of red. "Sorry for hitting you with that snowball, Weasley." She heard, feeling a quick pat on her back. She looked to her left and saw Scorpius towering over her. He was just under 6 foot tall but she was only 5 foot 2 inches, so he was quite tall compared to her.

"No you're not." Rose retorted, fiddling with her scarf as she waiting for people to move out of the way so she could grab her supplies.

"No, genuinely I am." He said sincerely, rubbing the top of her head, making her hair even more wild and out of place from her ponytail. "You've been shivering for the last half an hour."

"It's fine, it wasn't just you. Albus hit me with all three of his." She shrugged.

"Yeah, but he's an arsehole." He snickered.

"Takes one to know one." Rose said sarcastically, realising a bit too late that that was quite mean. Scorpius placed his hand on his heart dramatically, acting hurt.

"Well, now you've hurt my feelings. But you know what? I'll forgive you, because that's just how nice I am." He joked and they both moved forward toward the now clear table top which had all the supplies they needed. Rose pulled off her gloves and placed them in the pocket of her robes, grabbing a pair of gardening gloves and replacing them on her hands. She watched Scorpius pull a pair over his hands – his fingers were long compared to hers, her index finger was about the size of his pinkie. She didn't know how to carry on the conversation, especially when her thoughts were wild with ideas of grabbing and kissing him… she didn't want to say the wrong thing and embarrass herself.

As she gathered her things, she watched Scorpius reach into his Slytherin cloak pocket and hold his wand up pointing at her. Her eyes widened. "What're you-" she started to say, but he shushed her.

" _Callesco"_ He said in a husky whisper that made Rose tingle and melt. Suddenly she felt a rush of warm throughout her body and Scorpius glanced around the room quickly. Everyone was deep in different conversations and working on their plants that no one saw him unwrap Rose's scarf from her neck and lean in to her. "Just a warming charm so you don't freeze to death." He said and she felt his breath against her skin. He grabbed some pliers from the table top and walked off without saying anything else. She watched him swagger away and exhaled deeply, not realising that she had been holding her breath their whole time.

Rose walked back to the workbench, sitting between Penelope and Molly. "What took you so long?" Molly asked as Rose put everything down on the table. Rose's eyes were locked on Scorpius.

"Just… couldn't find the pliers." She lied.


	2. Chapter 2

The Great Hall was crowded more than usual when dinner came around. What with all the Hogwarts students then all the age-eligible students from Ilvermorny and Castelobruxo crowded around the tables, as well as staff and ghosts and the occasional owl flying in, it was safe to say there wasn't a lot of breathing room amongst the students.

"I don't understand why they don't just extend the Great Hall or something." Albus Potter said as he and Scorpius made their way to their usual spot at the Slytherin table, which would be a bit of a squeeze already with the rest of their sixth year friends already sitting down and ready to eat. They always hung out with the same group of friends: Xavier Zabini, Violet Parkinson, Isabelle Howard, Rosie Lucas, Nikolai Dunstan and Wesley Mockridge (who was a year younger than them, but played a good game on the Quidditch pitch).

"Because Hogwarts is a historical part of wizarding history, they're not going to mess around with the architecture to accommodate a couple of guests for a few months." Scorpius told him, shrugging with his hands in his pockets as they pushed their way through a crowd of Castelobruxo girls.

"It's not just "a couple" of guests though." Albus complained. When they arrived at their table, Albus pushed his way in between Violet and Isabelle and put his arm around Violet's shoulders. "Hey." He said before kissing her, which she gladly accepted. Isabelle awkwardly edged away from them, making room for Scorpius between her and Albus, which he took.

"Why do they have to do that?" Isabelle said, exasperated.

"What? Eat each other's faces every time they see one another?" Scorpius joked, as he reached over and grabbed a slice of fluffy white bread then began spreading some butter on it.

"Exactly." Isabelle laughed.

"We can hear you." Albus broke away from Violet to say, but promptly went back to his previous activities.

"We weren't talking quietly." Scorpius replied with a snicker. "Albus claims it's because they're so in love and all that sappy nonsense but it's basically just to show off to us boys that he's in a relationship and we're not." He said matter-of-factly. "And he still hasn't clocked onto the fact that we don't give a crap."

Scorpius looked across his group of friends. Xavier and Nikolai were talking about the Quidditch game that happened recently between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw; although Scorpius could see Xavier glancing up to look at Isabelle every now and then. He'd been in love with her since second year, but she'd rejected him when he'd asked her out in third year, because she'd had a crush on Scorpius – which she'd gotten over and had now turned into a little joke between them. Isabelle was now one of Scorpius' best friends, meaning she'd told Scorpius when she thought she was starting to have feelings for Xavier. He'd promised not to tell, but had given Xavier the push he needed to ask her to the Yule Ball (which he still hadn't had the courage to do).

"Speaking of relationships and that stuff, any thoughts on who you're going to the Yule Ball with, Belle?" Scorpius asked. She shot a look at Scorpius, glancing over to Xavier who was now paying attention to their conversation.

"Uh…" She stumbled. "No, no, not really." She said, shrugging. "I'm not really that bothered." She said, then Rosie spoke up.

"I have a date." She said with a small smile.

"Who?" Wesley asked in a monotone voice he said everything with. He didn't seem to care about anything.

"Damien Russell." Rosie stated, but everyone looked at one another clueless.

"Sorry, who?" Isabelle asked.

"He's a Hufflepuff seventh year. He hangs out with Shaun McDonald, you know? The Triwizard champion?" She explained.

"So, you're going to the Yule Ball with the Triwizard champion's best friend?" Xavier scoffed. "And a Hufflepuff no less."

"At least Damien had the balls to come up and ask me, unlike you since you don't even have a date." She shot back. That shut Xavier up.

"Who're you going with, Malfoy?" Wesley asked. To this, Scorpius glanced over to the Gryffindor table. He spied Rose, Molly and Penelope sitting there laughing and chatting. He smiled a very small, barely noticeable smile.

"Don't know." Scorpius stated, still looking over at them. He watched Shaun McDonald, the Hogwarts Triwizard Champion, walk over to the three girls and lean his hand on the table casually then begin talking to them – Penelope mostly. "I'll probably just go stag." He finished.

"Oh, come on, you could have any girl in this place." Isabelle said.

"Even you?" Scorpius joked, causing Isabelle to hit him in the arm playfully. "Deny it all you want, I know you still want me, Belle."

"In your dreams, Malfoy." She said. "But seriously, why don't you ask one of the Ilvermorny girls? I'm sure some American bimbo won't be able to resist your British charm." She joked, but that caused a group of Ilvermorny students to turn around and glare at them.

"Maybe. We'll see, we still have a few weeks left, I'm not in a rush to find a date." He said, taking a bite out of the slice of bread, looking over at Rose and her friends.

Scorpius wouldn't say he necessarily had a crush on Rose Weasley. Not out loud anyway. He'd always found her quite annoying as a person and compared to a lot of the girls in his year, she wasn't up there in the looks department – it didn't help that she hung out with Molly and Penelope, who were both very good looking. Not that she was ugly, but her looks didn't quite meet theirs. Or at least, they didn't before this year. Something seemed to have changed over the summer. Rose grew out of her baby fat, she grew a few inches so now her legs were on show every time she wore a skirt, which made Scorpius' stomach do flips and she learnt how to tame her wild hair – it was still a mess but she pulled it off somehow. Maybe it was the fact that she had started wearing it in a ponytail that Scorpius liked.

He'd also spent a little bit of time over the summer with her family, mostly hanging out with Albus, but since their families were basically always together it was hard to avoid her. He'd been able to see her in clothes that weren't her baggy school uniform jumpers and her cloak. She'd worn tight vest tops, shorts and just generally clothes that Scorpius never expected Rose to wear, let alone look good in, so something in Scorpius snapped. Now he was barely able to go anywhere in the castle without looking for her, and he looked forward to going to their classes, since she was in every one of his.

Scorpius realised now that he was, essentially, staring at her and was snapped out of his trance when Rose looked over at him. Earlier, in their Herbology lesson, he couldn't resist going over to her and messing with her a little. He had whispered to her and unwrapped her scarf from her neck, which in hindsight probably just seemed creepy, but he couldn't help but notice the way she held her breath when he got close to her, and the way she tensed up around him. He reveled in it.

Without really thinking, Scorpius winked at Rose playfully and bit his bottom lip as he looked at her. He could see the way she awkwardly turned away and he laughed a little to himself – causing Albus to turn to him.

"What're you laughing at?" He asked. Scorpius shrugged.

"Nothing…"


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm so proud of you!" Molly squealed as she climbed into her bed, sitting with her knees tucked into her chest and tying her hair back into a loose, messy bun.

Penelope laughed, as did Rose. "Why? All I did was say yes..." Penelope said, like it was no big deal that she'd agreed to go to the Yule Ball with the the Hogwarts Triwizard champion; which to most girls it was a huge deal.

"You're going to look so good together." Rose smiled, lifting an oversized jumper over her head.

"We're going to have to help you get ready though, Penny, got to make you look amazing. Everyone's going to be looking at you when you walk in and when you dance." Molly said. Penelope's face dropped.

"They are aren't they?" Penelope said, biting her bottom lip awkwardly. "Maybe this was a bad idea..."

"It is not a bad idea!" Molly said, chucking one of her many decorative throw pillows at Penelope, which she caught quickly. She was the Gryffindor keeper for two years but decided to give it up when she went on to her NEWTs. "It's not like you can really go over to Shaun and be like "oh hey! I know I told you I'd go to the ball with you after leaving you out to dry for three days but now I've changed my mind!" Or... I mean, you can but that'd be super harsh." Molly explained and Penelope buried her face in her hands. Rose watched the two of them as they spoke and climbed into bed, grabbing her Potions textbook to read herself to sleep with.

"Penny, no one will really be looking at you, they'll be concentrating on Shaun... and the other couples." Rose commented with a reassuring smile.

Penny sighed. "I suppose you're right." She laid down on her bed, facing the ceiling. "I've just never been great in front of crowds."

"But you played Quidditch for two years." Molly said.

"That's different..." Penelope replied.

"In what way?" Molly retorted. "Same shit really, you're still being looked at."

"Yeah but from a distance. A _long_ distance." She said with a sigh. "Oh well. He's cute, it could be worse."

"It could be much worse. You could be going with that Damien boy who clings to Shaun." Molly laughed, as did Penelope.

"What're you talking about? Damien's nice." Rose said defensively, looking up at the two of them and away from her book. She had started reading about Amortentia.

"Never said he wasn't, but he's a bit boring isn't he?" Molly snickered with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"At least he's got a date. We don't." Rose said.

"What? Who's he going with?" Penelope asked curiously. "I'm probably gonna have to hang out with them all night if I'm with Shaun."

"Rosie Lucas. You know, Albus' friend? Slytherin girl?" Rose informed them.

"Oh, she's alright. Bit boring too though... they make a good couple." Molly laughed.

"Does that mean I'm going to have to hang out with a bunch of Slytherins all night too?" Penelope asked, exasperated.

"Probably not. But Albus isn't bad... when he's not glued to Violet's face. Then there's Isabelle and Scorpius and a bunch of others." Rose explained with a reassuring look toward Penelope, who looked more and more nervous by the minute.

"Oh man, I would climb that boy like a tree." Molly said, casually.

"You'd climb Albus like a tree?" Penelope raised her eyebrow.

"No stupid, he's my cousin. I'd climb Malfoy." Molly corrected. Rose's stomach did a small flip at the sound of his name. "He has such a good face."

"A good face?" Rose hesitantly asked, curious.

"Yeah. Like, some people just have the type of face you wanna grab and make out with. I think it's the jawline, but these last couple of years he's really grown into his looks." Molly giggled. Rose couldn't help picturing the boy in her mind, the way his breath felt against her skin when he whispered to her earlier.

"Something weird happened with Malfoy earlier." Rose admitted, shyly, deciding it was better to just get it out in the open, after all she told Penelope and Molly pretty much everything, and they did the same with her. Penelope and Molly sat up and looked at her eagerly.

"Oooh gossip." Penelope chuckled.

"He was just a bit weird earlier." Rose said, vaguely.

"Weird how?" Molly asked, curiously.

"Well, for starters he apologised for tossing a snowball at me at the beginning of class, and when we were getting supplies for the Venomous Tentacular he like... cast a warming spell on me then sort of unwrapped my scarf from my neck and whispered to me." Rose explained quickly. A shiver went down her spine at the mere thought of the moment she had shared with Scorpius. The other two girls were listening intently.

"Whispered what?" Molly asked a bit too quickly.

"I don't really remember." Rose said, which was true. In the moment, her mind had been racing, and the whole situation blurred into a dream-like memory that Rose was doubting was even real. "But he winked at me too... earlier in the Great Hall." She continued. "Or he winked in our direction; it might not have been at me."

"Oh Merlin, that's brilliant." Molly squealed, giddily.

"Why is that brilliant?" Rose asked, confused.

"I'm definitely going to watch you guys in our next Herbology class." Molly stated, ignoring Rose's question. "Merlin, he's hot. Climb that tree for me, Rose."

"I don't know, I don't see it." Rose lied, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. She definitely did see it. She had a mental note of every different reason he was attractive. She wasn't sorry either.

"Don't lie, everyone thinks he's hot." Penelope laughed. Rose blushed harder. "You guys would be so cute, but we need to start making sure you look really hot every time you see him. I wanna know how he'd react."

"I knew I shouldn't have told you guys anything." Rose groaned, embarrassed, laying down with her Potions book and turning away from them, ignoring them for the rest of the night until they went to sleep.

Rose fell asleep thinking about Scorpius.


	4. Chapter 4

A huge crowd of Hogwarts, Ilvermorny and Castelobruxo gathered together as they walked toward the forbidden forest - the location for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. The champions: Shaun, Ilvermorny's Jennifer Vickery and Castelobruxo's Matheus López, would be arriving after everyone took their seats in the stands which stretched around the edge of the forbidden forest. Scorpius looked out at the humongous stands from the courtyard at Hogwarts as he walked among the crowd with Albus, Violet and Isabelle. The blonde boy had his hands in his pockets, his Slytherin cloak draped over him and his green and silver scarf around his shoulders.

"Scorp, why do you wear that scarf if you don't even wrap it around your neck?" Isabelle asked, hitting the scarf softly with her hand, making it swing slightly from side to side. The two of them walked behind Violet and Albus, who had his arm around Violet, his hand inching closer to her bum like no one could see him - Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Because it's winter, and if it gets colder I can wrap it around me." Scorpius said, obviously. "You ask like it's such a weird thing that I'm wearing it." To this, Isabelle shrugged. Scorpius glanced around at the crowd around them, they were surrounded by foreign students he didn't recognise. "So have you thought any more about asking Zabini to the ball?" Scorpius asked, curiously.

"I know you said he'd say yes but-"

"Well yeah, he's been in love with you for years." Scorpius interrupted. Isabelle hit his arm hard.

" _But_ I'm not sure." Isabelle continued. "I just… it's weird that the girl asks the guy." She mumbled.

"I'd be pretty turned on if a girl asked me." Scorpius admitted, causing a few turns from a couple of girls around them.

"Bit too much info, Malfoy." Violet chimed in in front of him. He simply shrugged.

"I would." He said, adamantly. "If a girl came over to me and asked me out, I'd think it was hot. Shows confidence."

"Yeah, well you're different to Xavier." Isabelle said nervously. "Anyway, it may sound cheesy and stupid but I want to be asked. I'm a girl. I want a boy to come over to me and ask me out, not the other way around." She shrugged.

They continued walking among the crowd toward the forbidden forest. The four of them walked slightly quicker than a lot of the crowd, so they ended up catching up with a few of the Hogwarts students on their way and before long were surrounded by pretty much entirely Hogwarts students. Scorpius looked around. There were a few students he recognised, even students he was friends with. Tammy Macmillan, a Slytherin sixth year who shared the dormitory with Isabelle, Rosie and Violet wasn't too far away. They weren't really friends with her, but she was alright as a person - Scorpius knew she had a crush on him, she'd made it quite obvious quite a few times, but not in a way that he'd like. Rather than just walking up to him and asking if he wanted to hang out, she'd make subtle hints or lean against him when they all hung out, grabbing his arm and holding it or tracing her finger down his chest. He pushed her away most of the time, just because he wasn't really interested. She was nice, but he wanted someone he could have an intelligent conversation with, not some dumb blonde who could barely spell the word 'Slytherin'.

As if she knew, Tammy turned around at that exact moment and noticed Scorpius. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked away from the Hufflepuff girl she had been talking to, toward the group of them.

"Hey Scorpius." She said and just by her tone he could tell she was attempting to be seductive. Scorpius wasn't really in the mood for it. "Oh, hi Isabelle, Violet." She said as an afterthought. She linked her arm with Scorpius and he rolled his eyes. Isabelle looked on and made a disgruntled groan. "Are you excited to watch the task?" She asked, batting her eyelashes and looking up at him.

Scorpius shrugged, at the same time as pulling his arm out of her grasp but it didn't take her long to reach up and hold him again. "Not really." He said simply. "Essentially we'll be watching McGonagall introduce the champions and the task then they're going to do whatever they have to do in the forbidden forest, all the while we'll be sitting in the stands not being able to see them or do anything but chat until one of them either wins the challenge or dies." He explained and Tammy laughed an obviously fake laugh.

"Oh, Scorp', you're so funny." She giggled. Isabelle made a fake gagging noise, which Scorpius snickered at. Tammy shot her a look. Scorpius pulled his arm out of her grasp again.

"Tammy, I think your friend is waiting for you." Isabelle said, pointing to the Hufflepuff girl she was with who continued walking with the crowd but kept turning back to look at Tammy.

"Well…" Tammy said, looking at Scorpius. "I'll see you later." She bit her bottom lip and looked at him. Scorpius raised his eyebrow at her then watched as she walked away.

"Oh Scorpius!" Albus said dramatically, walking back beside Scorpius and grabbing onto his arm, holding it tightly. "Oh you're so funny!" He said, batting his eyelashes mockingly. Isabelle and Violet both laughed. "Take me to the ball Scorpius! Make love to me! Father my children!" He continued and Scorpius couldn't hold back his laughter, shaking his head and burying his face in his hands.

"I knew he was secretly gay." They all heard someone say beside them. Scorpius turned and saw Molly walking alongside Rose and Penelope. He smiled instinctively at the sight of Rose. The girls laughed to one another as Albus let go of Scorpius.

"I'm not gay, asshole." Albus shot back. Scorpius snickered.

"Still denying your feelings for me after all this time, Potter?" Scorpius joked, cupping Albus's face in his hands and planting a kiss on his cheek playfully. The girls around them laughed. Albus pulled away and wiped his cheek.

"You're such a pain, Malfoy." He said, moving back next to Violet and wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Violet purposely shoved into Rose. Scorpius scoffed.

"Oh, sorry, Weasley." Violet said smugly. "Didn't even see you there." She lied. "Oh, look-" She started and Scorpius noticed Rose's face drop. "You've put makeup on. Too bad no matter how much makeup you wear you'll always be ugly." Violet sneered. Isabelle smirked beside her. Albus didn't really say anything - every time he saw Rose being bullied by Violet he stood by and watched, he didn't want to piss off Violet. Violet, Isabelle and Albus continued walking and Scorpius watched Penelope and Molly put their arms around Rose comfortingly.

Scorpius edged closer to the three Gryffindor girls, slyly. "I think you look good, Weasley." He said, winking at her then hurrying back to his friends before they noticed he had stayed slightly behind.

When they all arrived, the group took their seats in the stands, toward the top. It didn't take long for Tammy to spot them in the crowd and rush up to sit beside them. Scorpius spied her making her way up the steps, he was on the edge of their group so he would have to sit next to her. "Someone swap with me." He whispered.

"What?" Violet asked, confused. They all looked at him.

"Someone swap places with me. I can't sit with that lunatic." He said, glancing at her as she got closer.

"Fuck off, I'm not swapping." Albus said, turning his attention back to Violet. Isabelle shrugged with a sympathetic look in her eyes. Scorpius looked around and noticed Molly, Rose and Penelope a few steps ahead of Tammy. He was sitting a few spaces away from the stairs and he watched as all of them made their way up toward the back of the stands. Scorpius, panicking, reached over and grabbed Rose's arm, which startled her and caused the three girls to turn around and look at him.

"Sit with me. I'll explain in a second." He said, not giving her a choice and pulling Rose down next to him. Before she had time to think, Molly and Penelope were already making themselves comfortable next to her. She looked very confused.

Scorpius watched Tammy stop in her tracks, staring at him. There was no more room for her. She awkwardly sat down on her own on the nearest bench to her. Her Hufflepuff friend followed closely behind and Scorpius let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't noticed that he was still holding tight to Rose's arm. She was trying to remove herself from his grasp. He let her go, awkwardly.

"Are you going to explain, or…?" Rose said quietly.

"I just didn't want to sit with Tammy. She's a little crazy." Scorpius admitted.

"Oh." Rose said, a little disappointed at his response. "Okay, well, now that's done can we… you know… go?" She said, going to stand up but she saw Penelope and Molly both shake their heads at her. They were snickering to one another.

"No way. She'll be staring at me the whole time and when you go she'll make her move." Scorpius said. He turned and saw Isabelle staring at him with a look in her eye that said "what are you doing?" to which Scorpius shrugged.

Albus and Violet turned to the group of them and Violet let out an annoyed groan. "Weasley, why don't you go and sit with your friends away from us? We don't need you ruining our day." She smirked.

"Violet, give it a rest for today, would you?" Scorpius groaned. Everyone looked at him curiously. "We're supposed to have fun, stop being a bitch."

Molly and Penelope couldn't help but laugh and even Rose let out a small chuckle, and Scorpius spied a small smile on Albus' face. Violet turned away, rolling her eyes and grabbing Albus and kissing him. Scorpius thought it was to prove some sort of point, but they made out so much Scorpius couldn't tell these days.

"Thanks…" Rose said quietly.

"That's fine. She's awful." Scorpius said, nudging Rose's arm with his elbow.

"Then why are you friends with her?" She asked him before even thinking about it.

"I don't know, always have been. Now she's dating Albus, even more reason." He shrugged.

Being so close to Scorpius made Rose blush. She couldn't stop thinking about the other day in their Herbology class when he got close to her. It felt the same now, but not quite as intense. Scorpius on the other hand, was feeling suddenly nervous. He knew he'd be sitting with Rose now for the duration of the task, and when the champions got going on the actual challenge there'd be nothing for them to do but sit and talk.

"Welcome students!" boomed Headmistress McGonagall's voice across the crowd. "Welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Let's welcome your champions." She said. Everyone looked down at the ground, which was barely visible to Rose and Scorpius. "First, from Hogwarts: Shaun McDonald." She introduced him and he walked confidently out in front of the crowd. Rose and Molly smiled widely at Penelope, who was blushing and buried her face in her hands.

"You're going to be so cute!" Molly squealed.

"From Ilvermorny: Jennifer Vickery." McGonagall continued. A tall American girl walked out and stood beside Shaun, waving to her friends in the stands. "And from Castelobruxo: Matheus López." Finally, a small brunette boy walked nervously in front of the crowd. They all stared up at the stands.

"Place your bets now." Scorpius whispered in Rose's ear and she laughed quietly.

"3 Galleons on Shaun winning." She replied.

"You're only saying that because you're friends." Scorpius retorted.

"Hardly. He's tall, athletic and the odds are stacked against the other two considerably more." Rose explained. "Matheus is small, and you can see by his body language that he's really nervous and, as much as I hate to admit it, Jennifer being a girl makes it less likely for her to win."

"Alright smartass, you're on." Scorpius said, smiling widely. For a second they locked eyes and smiled at one another. The spell was broken though when McGonagall started explaining the rules of the game. They turned away from each other and looked down at the champions.

"In the forest, the champions will come up against magic and creatures that they may not have seen before. It's dangerous, but if you use the skills you have learnt through school you should be able to finish the challenge." She explained, talking directly to the champions at this point. "You will each need to solve a riddle within the forest - these riddles are not easy and the only way you will be given them is by interacting with the different parts of the forest. Centaurs, curses, werewolves, and more wait for you in the forest. Be careful. Use your heads." McGonagall explained.

Before everyone knew it, a canon was fired and the champions slowly but somewhat confidently made their way into the maze, leaving the crowd to look on in wonder and nerves.

"And now we wait…" Rose said.

"Now we wait." Scorpius repeated, glancing at the girl with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

Rose sat close to Scorpius, trying not to seem tense and nervous like she was feeling. She tried to avoid looking at him but it had become a bad habit of hers; but waiting for the task to finish meant a lot of dead air and awkward silences between the two of them. Eventually, Scorpius had turned to talk to Isabelle, Albus and Violet, leaving a small disappointed feeling in the pit of her stomach. Rose ended up turning back to Penelope and Molly, who were both looking at her with a look of eagerness in their eyes.

Since telling them about what had been happening with Scorpius, Rose had noticed that if the girls weren't talking about Penelope and Shaun they were talking about the hypothetical Scorpius and Rose; and as happy as Rose was to be talking about Scorpius, she tried to play it off and act like she wasn't bothered about what had been going on, which was entirely untrue. "What?" Rose asked, acting clueless to the situation.

"You know what." Molly snickered. Rose glanced back to Scorpius, who seemed to be in an in-depth conversation with Isabelle.

"Can we not talk about this?" Rose whispered sincerely. "Not while he's right here." She begged. She really didn't want Molly or Penelope to say something Scorpius would hear. They were merely joking, since they didn't know she actually had a crush on him, but she would rather not risk him finding out they were gossiping about him.

Penelope opened her mouth to speak before everyone's attention was caught by the sudden sound of triumphant music. Everyone turned to look down toward the entrance to the forbidden forest. All the students and staff were eager to see who had completed the task first, after two hours since it started. Suddenly, a dirty and tired looking Shaun emerged from the trees and the Hogwarts students roared in celebration. Headmistress McGonagall took him to the side and his friend Damien went running down from the stands toward them, pulling him into a bear hug when he reached him. Penelope smiled widely looking at him.

Shaun was followed a few minutes later by Jennifer then not even a minute after that Matheus emerged from the trees, panting and tired and covered in dirt. The crowd continued to cheer loudly.

"Congratulations champions!" McGonagall's voice bellowed before she announced who had come in first, second and third place - as if everyone didn't already know. The champions, along with a few of their friends were escorted away and soon enough, everyone was getting up and leaving. Rose saw Scorpius and his friends stand up, and Rose stood up alongside Penelope and Molly.

"I can't believe he won!" Penelope said, excitedly as they made their way down the steps of the stands. Scorpius followed closely behind and moved to stand next to Rose and they continued down.

"Me neither." Scorpius said quietly, so just Rose could here and she felt herself blushing slightly, if only for the fact that he was standing beside her. Scorpius reached into his cloak pocket and pulled out a galleon, handing it to Rose.

"I believe the bet was 3 galleons." Rose said smugly. Scorpius smirked at her and put his hands back in his pockets as he walked.

"Haven't got the money on me, consider the rest an IOU." He replied with a smile then stopped walking in order for his friends to catch up with him. Rose carried on with Penelope and Molly, staring at the shiny galleon in her hand with a smile.


End file.
